Roadblocks
by Dizzy28
Summary: Dummy Twins AU / CC and Niles are trapped in a potentially fatal situation after the disastrous dinner date, which may bring a few things to the surface sooner than expected.


**AN: I'm back, with yet another slight (or in this case, not so slight) variation on an episode. This is a Dummy Twins AU, you might even consider it a Dummy Twins continuation, but it's set before the whole argument happens, so, y'know, not exactly your run of the mill DT story (not that there's anything wrong with those).**

 **It's worth pointing out this is in response of a prompt someone sent to my tumblr, which is why the first sentence might look familiar. The rest is all mine, though.**

 **Enjoy, and as always, reviews make this particular writer get very excited, so don't hesitate to leave your thoughts!**

 **~Dizzy**

* * *

"I guess dying with you isn't the worst way to go."

Niles perks up at that - or as much as he's able when he's hunched over, half hiding inside his coat for warmth. Of course the car had to break down in the middle of nowhere, on the coldest day of the year. And of course it had to be just Babcock and him. And of course it's the night he decided asking Babcock out for dinner and proposing _again_ \- three other agains - was a good idea. Or the day a certain big-haired yenta convinced him it was a good idea, anyway.

After the disastrous dinner, Niles insisted there was no sense in letting a little inconvenience like having your heart stepped on repeatedly by CC Babcock get in the way of doing the chivalrous thing and driving her home. Now he just wishes he had shut up and let her catch a cab back home.

"It isn't?" Niles questions.

CC makes an exaggerated _duh_ gesture. "Nanny Fine could be here too!"

Niles rolls his eyes. He's not mad at Miss Babcock, but rather disappointed with himself. Truth be told, Babs could have reacted so much worse to his proposals… She did only laugh the two times, didn't she? Niles supposes, after the third proposal, it stopped being funny and started verging on seriously worrying.

He's still going over the _numerous_ mistakes of the night, the culminating one taking the exit a little too fast and slipping on the icy road, sending the car straight into the dense forest next to the highway, when he feels CC's fingers at his temple. He jumps back as if he's just been burnt, even though her hand felt worryingly cold.

"What are you doing?!" he snaps at her, and CC just frowns at him, returning her hand to his head and having to maneuver herself over the console separating their seats.

"Stay still, you idiot. I think you're bleeding," she answers, gingerly touching his hairline. He grimaces slightly when her touch makes the area sting a little, but is generally too amazed by CC Babcock actually being caring and careful to complain much. He realizes he's been staring when she locks eyes with him, and she pulls her hand away.

"What?"

Niles swallows dryly, suddenly feeling more flushed than he has any right to be, considering it's freezing cold. "Nothing," he mutters, and feels that nervous churn in his stomach again. Would _now_ be a bad time to propose again? Niles shakes that thought from his mind. _Get a grip, man_. "Just surprised your big hooves can be that gentle." He knows he's accidentally praised her, but he doesn't mind so much when she smirks at him.

"And he's back," she whispers to herself, but loud enough for Niles to hear and frown about it. He doesn't have time to ask what she means before she brings her hand to his wound again, and this time he does jump back, too scared of that closeness again.

"Stop!" CC seems a bit deflated by his tone, and he sighs deeply. "I'm sorry I- I'm fine, I must have hit my head on the driving wheel when the car came to a stop. I'm fine," he repeats meekly, and CC gives him a small smile.

"Just let me know if you start to get woozy, okay?" Babcock replies, settling back in her seat.

"Why, worried about me?" Niles cocks an eyebrow at her, and sees CC smirk, though she doesn't look at him.

"Just worried about what diabolic creatures your dead body might attract," she replies easily.

"Nothing you haven't seen on the left side of your bed one morning or other," Niles answers in kind, but frowns when he notices CC's shaking slightly. "You're cold," he adds, and CC looks at him as if he just sprouted another head.

"No shit, Sherlock," she grouses, but Niles disregards that with a vague hand movement.

"You're shaking," he insists, suddenly feeling very much useless.

CC just stares at him, not really denying that she's probably closer to hypothermia than him. It takes a moment, but Niles eventually gets over the embarrassment he's feeling about the whole situation, and opens up the flap of his coat slightly, not enough to let cold enter, but enough to let CC know there's room for her if they huddle close.

Babcock just looks at him startled, her eyes wide, which would be funny if it wasn't accompanied by a now very obvious shaking.

"Come on, Miss Babcock! Let's just- Let's just huddle up," Niles finally manages, impatiently. CC huffs at him, but does reluctantly make her way over the car's console, and Niles shuffles to the side of his seat, letting Miss Babcock squeeze herself against him, and wraps his arm over her shoulder, letting his coat envelop her.

" _Huddle up_ …" he hears her mutter, "what are we, penguins?"

Niles chuckles at that. "No, you big whale, you eat those for breakfast, now stop fussing."

Miraculously, she does, simply hiding her face against his chest. They even manage a couple of minutes of silence - which are increasingly hard for Niles, considering his thoughts are going about twenty thousand miles per hour - before he simply _has_ to break the silence.

"Miss Babcock… CC," he ventures, and he notices her look up when he uses her first name. He's a tad too afraid to look down at her, though, so he simply looks forward, into the unending forest before them, "I apologise about tonight."

CC shrugs vaguely. "Could have happened to anyone," she mumbles, "happened to Maxwell too, remember?"

Niles frowns at that, finally looking down towards CC. "Maxwell proposed to you?"

CC blushes at that, her eyes widening. "No! I thought you meant crashing the car," she says sheepishly.

"Oh." Smooth, Niles. "Well, I'm sorry about that, too."

CC nods minutely, but doesn't say anything. Niles can feel the cold seeping into his bones, and it's not exactly wooziness, but he does feel himself starting to get tired. Miss Babcock must have been feeling similarly, if the way she's leaning more and more of her weight on him is any indication. He doesn't particularly want to talk about tonight, but he doesn't think it's a very good idea to go to sleep in their current condition, either, so he breaks the silence once more.

"Would you… Would you have reacted differently if I hadn't proposed to you tonight?" He's referring to her insisting the dinner was over after the fourth proposal, which Niles can't really berate her.

CC shrugs, shuffling to sit up. "I guess… We have gone out together before and had fun," she mentions, and he's assaulted by memories of them dancing in the living room of the Sheffields, one of his favorite nights to revisit. "Which just makes what you did tonight all the more infuriating, Niles," her voice is stronger now, though not as fiery as it would have probably been in normal circumstances.

"Infuriating?" Niles frowns, puzzled, and CC sighs, looking at some point to his left.

"I thought we were getting along the past couple of months… But I guess it was all me, huh?" That answers none of Niles' questions, if anything, it makes him even more confused. He turns CC's face gently to his.

"I-I don't know what you mean," he says softly, hoping the desperation with which he wants to understand what's going through her mind carries through in his tone.

It seems to work, because CC gets a look of confusion in her face too. "Niles, I don't know what's this prank you're trying to pull, and I don't _care_ ," she says bitterly, before Niles can get a word in edgewise, "but if you think you can get one over CC Babcock you're-"

It all clicks in Niles' mind at that, and he feels like laughing and crying at the same time, so he does the one thing that comes naturally to him. He insults Babcock.

"My God, you buffoon! It wasn't a prank!"

CC just gapes, lost for words for a second. Niles is just smiling like an idiot, hope once again shining through to his battered old heart.

"It… wasn't?" CC asks half to herself, trying to come to terms with everything.

"No," Niles says simply, shrugging.

CC narrows her eyes, still not quite sure this isn't an elaborate joke on her. "So you _really_ want to marry me?"

Niles blushes at that, which is ridiculous, since he did ask the woman to marry him four times in the past forty-eight hours. "N-No. I mean, yes, but… But I didn't mean to ask you to marry me." CC still looks thoroughly confused, and Niles tries to get his thoughts in order before replying.

"What I meant to say all those times that I asked you to marry me was just that-that I-" _God, why were the three damn words so difficult?_

Before he can answer, Babcock sighs, starting to disentangle herself from Niles. "Look, forget it, okay? I don't know why I thought you'd have a sensitive bone in your decrepit old body-"

And who knew, that's all it took for the words to dislodge themselves from Niles' mouth. "I love you, you crone." Niles congratulated himself. Almost perfect.

That truly leaves Babcock wordless, and Niles' heart stops for the couple of seconds it takes for a slow but brilliant smile to spread over her face. "You do?"

Niles nods enthusiastically, and finds CC's grin far too contagious. "Yeah," he murmurs, bringing her a little closer to him, and would wonders never cease, doesn't even have to convince himself it's just for warmth.

CC's gaze drops to his lips almost imperceptibly, but Niles would never not notice something like that. He supposes this is when the couple kisses and lives happily ever after. Of course, since it's _them_ , they're trapped in a slowly freezing car, in which they might die, and CC doesn't kiss him, instead she swats at his chest.

"Well, you did an awful job of showing it, you jerk," she says, but can't keep the grin off her face, nor does she pull her hand away from his chest after hitting him, instead moving it upwards to cup the back of his neck.

Niles smiles charmingly, closing the gap between them painfully slowly. "You just weren't paying enough attention," he replies hoarsely before pushing their lips together, not really giving CC any chance to reply. Truth be told, and as much as he enjoys the banter and the anticipation, if they're going to die sometime in the next couple of hours, he'd rather his last few moments on Earth are spent kissing CC Babcock silly.

It might have been thirty seconds, or half an hour, or maybe Niles has already died and gone to heaven, but at some point, CC pulls back abruptly, and holds Niles' chin away when he leans back towards her.

"Miss Babcock-"

"Shh, did you hear that?" CC is focusing all her attention at the passenger seat window, and Niles smiles fondly, gently reaching up to move her hand away from his chin, and starting to plant soft kisses on her neck.

"No, but they do say your kind has very keen hearing," Niles mumbles against her skin.

It takes a second, but then there's a definite noise from outside the car, something that sounds very much like a human voice calling their names. Niles and CC look at each other wide-eyed, before she moves back to the passenger seat, rolling down the window so she can scream at the top of her lungs to let their savior know where they are. She must have received confirmation they'd been located, because she turns to Niles after that, her smile bright, and her cheeks flushed with the cold creeping from the open window.

"We're not going to die," Niles says, rather obviously, but too excited not to voice his thoughts aloud, and CC reaches over to clasp his hand with hers.

"Good. I wouldn't want to miss what happens next," she replies softly, and reaches over to kiss Niles again, fervent and hopeful.


End file.
